Morgan Sullivan is a youth sports coach. He has coached his daughter and sons in multiple sports, and is an avid student of coaching. He also shares coaching wisdom on his blog and in his Facebook group Coaches Corner.

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Coaching your own kids

Make sure all the players know you are there to coach and treat all the players equally

Treat all the kids equally – your child shouldn’t have to be 50% better than the next kid to earn a spot – If they earn it, they earn it!

Cringe Moment

Morgan’s 5 year-old son was running the game-winning touchdown, and his shoe came off and he stopped. They lost the game and Morgan ran out and yelled at his son. Morgan realized he had lost perspective, apologized to his son and the team, and learned to keep perspective during games.

Teaching Skills

The less talking the coaches do and the more playing the players do, the better it will be for everyone. A quick demonstration goes a long way.

Use stations. Run from station to station.

Self-Confidence

Mistakes are learning points. We want mistakes. You only get better by making mistakes.

Championship Culture

It starts with great assistant coaches

Approach communication from the positive side of things: use words like ‘I would like to see…’ instead of ‘I don’t want you to do …’

Focus on process and making the right decision

Reward hustle, sportsmanship

Great team builders – Start practices by playing fun games, have a potluck cookout

Connecting with and Impacting Kids

Morgan has coached a boy who is his neighbor and followed his growth, and got to see him catch his first TD recently, Morgan doesn’t know who was more excited, the boy, his parents, or Morgan

The One that got away

Morgan had some scouts come to watch him in a high school game and he gave up 7 runs and only recorded 1 out. Morgan’s mom did a great job afterwards of keeping things in perspective and reminding him that this doesn’t define him.